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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

'Hallyu' in Japan at a fork

The
Korean melodrama “Winter Sonata” sparked a frenzy for Korean cultural
products after first airing on Japanese television in 2003.
/ Korea Times file

It
was a decade ago when the Korean melodrama ``Winter Sonata’’ first
reached a Japanese audience through NHK television and triggered a
massive frenzy for Korean cultural products that soon exploded across
Asia and beyond.

Hallyu, or the Korean wave, proved
to be more than just about soap operas as international demand for
Korean films and pop music, or K-pop, has risen sharply in recent years.

Fast
forward to 2013 and the picture surrounding the Korean cultural boom is
entirely different. There’s an irony in that at a time when Korea
celebrates the emergence of its first globally-transcendent entertainer,
“Gangnam Style” rapper Psy, hallyu is facing its most serious challenge
where it all started ― Japan.

The Japanese taste
for Korean cultural products has been affected by the icy diplomatic
relation between the two countries. Things took a turn for the worse
last year when South Korean President Lee Myung-bak made a surprise
visit to Dokdo, the tiny islets Japan argues it has a historical claim
to, and demanded an apology from the Japanese Emperor over the nation’s
wartime atrocities.

Lee’s actions sparked anti-Korea
rallies in front of Tokyo’s Fuji TV, with protestors demanding the
network yank its Korean dramas off the air.

Japanese
satellite channel BS Nippon postponed its plans to air the Korean
drama, ``A Man Called God,’’ which stars Song Il-gook, after the actor
joined dozens of other swimmers in a relay swimming event to Dokdo in
protest of the Japanese claims over the island.

And
last year was the first in several years that no Korean singers were
invited to participate in NHK’s Kouhaku, the famous end-of-year singing
program.

Experts say hallyu is most sensitively affected by political and historical issues especially in neighboring Asian countries.

“We
researched last year how many Japanese people believed hallyu was no
longer culturally relevant in their country. In March, 15 percent of the
400 people surveyed answered hallyu was already moving toward its end.
That percentage jumped to 41 percent by November,’’ said Park Sung-hyun,
a researcher at the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange
(KOFICE).

“We interpreted this result as to be
linked with President Lee’s demand in August last year for the Japanese
Emperor to apologize. It seems that historical and political issues can
have detrimental effects on the consumption of Korean cultural products
abroad.’’ Even Psy’s popularity was lower in Japan than in other
countries in the thick of the Gangnam Style fever.

Although
the strained relations between the two countries are denting the
popularity of Korean cultural products in Japan, other factors are in
play as well, according to Jung Duk-hyun, a pop culture critic.

“The
one-way flow of content and its quality can be reasons why hallyu isn’t
doing so well in Japan. Of course, the tense diplomatic relations is by
far the biggest reason,” Jung said.

He said the
export of cultural content had been lopsided until now with Korean
content flowing in to Japan but not much Japanese content flowing back
to Korea.

“These uneven exports must have cooled
down the Korean wave. Too much Korean content could have offended the
Japanese when theirs didn’t affect Korea. Also, the content of hallyu is
becoming less impressive than when it first began. The K-pop groups
that enter the Japanese market are quite similar and they might be
boring Japanese consumers,” he said.

Park also said,
“K-pop is still popular but Korean TV dramas became less popular due to
their same old melodramatic storyline. Despite famous celebrities like
Jang Geun-suk and Yoona starring, the TV series Love Rain showed low
ratings.”

For hallyu to continue flourishing overseas the quality of it must evolve and the exchange should go both ways.

“Until
now, hallyu was propelled by star power. Famous entertainers led the
trend. But the content was unable to support them. We need to develop
something unique to Korea because from now on, content will define the
path of hallyu,” said Jung.

“We’ve seen from Psy’s
example that one good song can overturn the trend. Just because
something doesn’t succeed in Japan doesn’t mean it can’t do well
elsewhere.”

The content distribution also must go two-way.

“It’s
more important to smoothly progress two-way cultural exchange between
countries instead of the government taking the helm to spread Korean
culture,” said Park.

With the advent of Psy on the
global market, the perception about the hallyu market has changed
drastically in the past year. Until now, Japan and neighboring Asian
countries have been considered major hallyu consumers. Now the market
has expanded to the whole world, as the song first gained popularity in
North America.

But this does not mean the Japanese
market can be overlooked as it is still the biggest consumer of hallyu.
To continue a hallyu presence in Japan, friendly diplomatic relations
seems like a prerequisite though.